1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a test strip pickup mechanism, a test strip moving apparatus, a liquid sample analyzer, and a test strip pickup method, each for picking up one by one test strips to be used in analysis in a laboratory test on a liquid sample such as urine or blood, especially a urine sample, from a test strip bottle (container) containing a large number of the test strips, and for supplying the test strips to a measurement unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Urinalysis, for which samples can be easily collected and the result of which can be obtained in a short time, is important as a screening test such as renal function test and diabetes diagnosis, and is an essential test item for mass medical examinations such as school children medical examinations and employee medical examinations. In the case of mass medical examinations, since the number of samples is large, such samples are processed by a continuous automatic analyzer. For speedup of the measurement, it is necessary to efficiently pick up each test strip from a container and to supply the test strip to a measurement unit.
To date, as a type of such supplying apparatus, the invention according to Japanese Patent No. 3697535 which has been devised by the present inventors and for which a patent has been obtained is known. The apparatus according to Japanese Patent No. 3697535 is a test strip pickup mechanism in which a test strip pickup head configured to suck and hold a grip portion of each test strip is provided with a light detector for performing front/back face determination on the grip portion whose front face and back face have at least partially different reflectances, and in which the test strip pickup head is supported in a rotatable manner which allows reversal of the face of the test strip.
The apparatus according to Japanese Patent No. 3697535 allows easy front/back face determination, and can rotate the test strip in accordance with the determination.
However, in the apparatus according to Japanese Patent No. 3697535, since a transmission mechanism such as a belt and a pulley are interposed between the test strip pickup head and a pulse motor, the mechanism is complicated and large.
Urinalysis and blood test which use test strips are more and more conducted at small private medical institutions, and introduction of automatic testing apparatuses is being promoted. At small medical institutions, apparatuses as small as possible are preferred.